Gadar, a revolutionary poet and a former Naxal leader has denounced the West Bengal Government, saying that it has betrayed the faith of common people.
"They have been ruling for over 20 years, though they claim that they are anti–US, they favor policies that are very much American. They are exposed. The color of the communist parties is clearly exposed in Nandigram," he said.
Corporate honchos have also expressed their concerns about the police excesses in Nandigram.
"We are extremely upset about Wednesday's incident which is very unfortunate. I think the government should have solved the matter with more collaborative steps discussing the problems with the local villagers and opposition parties," Ravi Poddar, former chairman of industry lobby Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said, adding, "We know police as the savior of common people. I don't know what provoked them (police) to resort to firing at innocent villagers. I hope things will be resolved shortly."
Harsh Vardhan Neotia, chairman of Ambuja Realty Development and an industrialist who is known to be close to the CPI(M) government, said the Nandigram blood war was definitely not good for the business community.
"It's totally a humane issue and no businessman would want to set up industry at the cost of innocent lives of farmers," Neotia said.
He said industry could cause some displacement but the government should deal the issue through a dialogue, care and proper rehabilitation packages.
"It was true that a deadlock was continuing in Nandigram for the past two and a half months but the state government should have solved it in a peaceful manner, not by sending police contingent," he said.
Hemant Kanoria, vice–chairman and managing director of SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd, which is involved in developing infrastructure in the state, echoed similar sentiments.
"At the cost of life, nothing is good, especially industry. This brutal firing and police's role in Nandigram is not good for the state as well as for the corporate world," Kanoria said, reacting strongly against administrative decisions of unleashing forces to tame the villagers.
"The entire episode is very unfortunate and there was a serious miscommunication between the State Government and local villagers. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had already announced that land would not be taken by force in Nandigram for the special economic zone (SEZ) but the information was not disseminated to the villagers, leading to the deaths Wednesday," Biswadip Gupta, deputy chairman, CII Kolkata branch, said.
"We cannot stay at a place by disturbing the peace of local people," industrialist Sajjan Jindal, whose Jindal Group is going to set up a huge 10 million ton capacity iron and steel plant at Salboni in West Midnapore, said, adding that in case of any local agitation they were ready to relocate their plant.
Meanwhile, though red–faced, the Leftist government has vehemently maintained that it was caught off–guard by the large–scale "organized resistance" by villagers at Nandigram and claimed that police opened fire after being attacked with stones, bombs and pipeguns.
Nation
Nandigram violence evokes nationwide protest, leaves WB Govt. red–faced
By: Jacob Chaterjee
Monday, 19 March 2007, 8:13 (IST)
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